The Summer Brief that I was challenged with before starting this degree at Leeds College of Art involved responding to 10 different questions regarding what we have been doing over the break.
The result should be presented in a series of 10 images in a 10cm x 10cm format.
My initial response involved lots of sketches of objects and people, but I felt that the nature of this task was to capture experiences and that my drawings weren't as dynamic and lively as they could be. They were flat and told very little about how I felt. The drawings also often focused on a specific object, ignoring details of where it happened.
Although I really love this pattern of ice creams that I created using watercolour paints, they do disregard information that I think the brief was asking for.
In an attempt to 'educate' my illustrations and include more in the images I produce, I looked at other work that I had already produced this Summer and how that had strength in showing a lot of information in one single frame.
This is a bird that I made for a personal project. The bird itself is a papier mache sculpture. It is free-standing and can be positioned in any setting or role that I like.
In this, it is possible to place the bird within a real-world setting, an environment or a back-drop.
I think that this is a great way of introducing myself to mise-en-scene and the task of re-creating an entire experience.
In this image, you can not only see the subject, but you can see what it is doing, where it is going.
I worry that this may not be classed as illustration. I am not following the conventions of traditional illustration. I am not putting pen to paper. My illustration exists as a photograph. Does that mean that what I have produced is photography?
The images must have a meaning, they must be trying to say something. I wanted to create characters that have stories and ambitions.
Transforming hand-drawn characters into 3D model versions.
Can I incorporate text into these scenes? Do they need it? Do they explain themselves?
Documenting experiences, I love how my illustrations in a 3D format can interact with the 'real' world, exploring the beauty in nature whilst also creating a weird fusion of unnatural events, an almost surreal distortion of the truth.
Making props for the dolls to use and interact with. They are people. They are alive. They are caught mid-action. What do I want to convey in the image? What is the most important event?
I had a little go at animating the characters that I created over Summer, through the method of stop-motion.
This is Hilda Bindwood. She likes to explore. Again, she is fully posable and stands at about 7" tall. Made using papier mache and a wire structure.
The brief asks for the project to be personal.
I made a 'Jay' doll.
Following the same methods and ideas that I had found successful in personal projects throughout the Summer, I tried to make a little version of myself to use in the recreation of my experiences.
Something that tasted good. I made an ice cream cone using polymer clay and shot pictures of Jay holding it. I love the atmosphere of this image and how much depth this 3D format brings, but I would like to have a go at re-shooting this scene. I want to repaint the face so that her eyes are almost closed and are looking down at the ice cream. I want her mouth to be open or even her tongue to be sticking out. Maybe a beach themed background?
Jay reading. Not in square format yet. The rose doesn't add anything to the image. It looks like it's not been thought about and doesn't say anything other than the suggestion of romance, which is irrelevant. Get rid of it.
Close up of Jay reading. Euphoria. Enjoyment. Summer bokeh lighting. Head should be tilted down a little more to make a more realistic pose for reading.
It isn't clear that she's reading her. She isn't even touching the book. I love her pose and maybe a medium shot like this one rather than a close up shot like the previous two versions would allow more to be present in the background of the image.
I visited Seven Stories in Newcastle. It was such an incredible place with beautiful children's books and lots of interactive exhibits. I tried on every single outfit. I got inside every reading tent.
Something I wore....
Paddington.
Astronaut.
Lamb.
Reindeer.
King and Queen.
Adorning my little Jay with the accessories of a Queen was a great way of sticking to the consistency of the doll's repeated outfit, but showcasing 'something you wore' as a special treat.
Something I have been listening to: vinyl.
Where do you listen to it? How? Do I need to make a record player?
It may be more clear if I made an mp3 player and headphones instead.
Drawing with light to give the illusion of sound waves. I could work into this further by hand-illustrating more abstract musical visions.
Something you have discovered: My rabbit LOVES chocolate biscuits.
He (Hampton) goes mad for them. I debated making a little tiny bunny to match the proportions of my doll, but I really like how surreal and odd this scene looks with the giant rabbit.
Although it is a photograph, a real thing, it looks unnatural and interesting at the same time.
In the square format, Hampton's ears get chopped off. Not literally. Does this take away from the scene? Is it still obvious that he is a rabbit? It took several attempts to capture the very moment of biscuit consumption without him biting off my doll's hand, but finally I caught it!
I made sketches of roller coasters, of clowns and the dark.
I am afraid of many things.
I have an anxiety disorder and the odds are that I am scared or worried about something right now. I think that the one thing that really scares me at the moment is myself. This big, evil, silly Jay who ruins things. She's evil. She's not me but she lives here too. She also looks very much like me and if you weren't paying attention, I'm sure you might mistake her evil actions to be mine.
I made an evil Jay. I don't like the angle of the image and I think that regular Jay should be in the scene too. She should be scared. I like the dramatic effect that a black and white filter has on the image. It is looming and tense.
She looks fierce and powerful. Regular Jay should look more afraid, with furrowed eyebrows and closed eyes.
Something you'd rather not have done: I chopped my hair off.
I'm finding it really tricky to encapsulate this event, because it was spontaneous and I was feeling excited and impulsive, but it was also a moment of anger and destruct.
This image does not show the BIG DEAL of this situation. Jay is not aware of how much of a huge mistake she is making, but then I wasn't at the time either... I'm struggling to reconstruct this event.
This image didn't work because it is misleading. I am chopping very close to my face here and the image might be read in the wrong way. I was not cutting my face, only my hair. The message is not clear.
The return of the paper rose. This is an appropriate scene to include such a symbolic flower. Utterly gooey, cheesy and sickly - this is something that made me happy.
The backdrop has the potential to be more detailed and say something else about the scene. Our cheeks could be more blushed and direction of gaze should be at one another.
I don't like moths.
I made a little moth. He's textured and pretty and charming. He's a sample of the natural world, only in odd proportions and made of sponge and canvas.
I like this moth.
Jay holding the moth. She should be looking at the moth.
Illustrated butterfly background accentuates the natural theme. Something beautiful. Jay should be more in awe of what she is looking at.
I have found myself in lots of places this Summer. Answering this question was difficult because it would mean going back. I would have to go back to Paris with my doll, or recreate something that represented the place.
I wanted to take this less figuratively, considering places that aren't physical.
Ebay bidding wars.
Too far into the internet.
Lost in thoughts.
Labyrinth.
Labyrinth is my all-time favourite film and I tried playing with the idea of me being so obsessed with it that I have found myself lost within the plot.
This is Jay looking for the Castle.
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